Red & Blue
by Trilby1992
Summary: Slice of life with Yuu Amano. Contains Yuu x Airu.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I think Yuu x Airu is the cutest couple since Takari and I was surprised that a Yuu x Airu fan fiction is hard to find.

Chapter 01: A New Year

It was the first week of the new school year, about 4 months after the defeat of Quartzmon. Tagiru kept twiddling his pencil, waiting for the class tutor Mr Kawasaki, who managed to be more late than Tagiru himself. Yuu, who was sitting to the left of the gogglehead was also twiddling his pencil and feeling bored. "Sorry I'm late class." The teacher shouted before he entered the classroom. "I was held up to be informed that we have a new student in our school."

Yuu raised his eyebrow, eager to see who it was. "I hope it's a cute girl." Tagiru whispered to Yuu's ear but the blonde boy just simply closed his eyes and frowned.

"Class, let's give a warm welcome to Airu Suzaki!"

"Eeek!" Tagiru squealed as he was shocked to see the blonde girl walked in and bowed to the class. Yuu opened his eyes widely and was equally shocked but he didn't make much of a sound. "Tagiru that was rude, please calm yourself outside." Mr Kawasagi scolded. Without any excuse, Tagiru obliged and made his way out of the classroom.

"You may take his seat Miss Suzaki." The teacher said. For a second, Airu lost her smile from the sight of Yuu, but as soon as she saw him with his head down on the table, she gladly made her way to the back of the classroom where Tagiru was sitting.

"Why Tagiru why?" Yuu whispered to himself. "Together again." Airu said. Yuu just waved while keeping his head down on the table. He knew this school year will be a fun one.

During a literature period, a very bored Airu threw a piece of folded paper to Yuu's desk. Yuu raised his eyebrow as he unfolded it and saw a drawing of himself with stink lines. He sighed and threw the paper away. Then a few moments later, he received another paper coming from the same direction. He unenthusiastically unfolded this paper, and saw a message that reads _"You're mine!"_ along with a small drawing of a face with its tongue sticking out. Yuu frowned a bit, but then he realised that Tagiru had done these sorts of antics over the years. The blonde was tempted to send a message back, but he convinced himself that a mature student like him, should have grown out of that by now. He tore that piece of paper into pieces and resumed his attention towards the teacher. Airu was disappointed by the lack of fun that Yuu exhibited, but she didn't give up.

She wrote another message onto a piece of paper, folded it, and again threw it to Yuu. Yuu was hesitant to open this one up, but his curiosity got the better of him and he opened it.

_"Wanna hang out at lunch? x"_

By now Yuu was convinced that the girl had some sort of split personality. First, she insulted him, and now she wants to hang out with him?

Yuu ripped a bit of paper from his notebook, wrote a small message and then threw it to a very curious Airu. Finally, a reaction from the blonde boy. She enthusiastically opened the message.

"_Only if you stop. =)"_

Yuu hoped his response would be last of the series of distractions until another folded paper landed on his head. He gave off a sigh and then slowly opened this piece of paper. It simply reads _"Okay"_. The blonde boy let out a sigh again and threw the paper away. He no longer expected the messages to stop but that message actually turned out to be the last of that day.

Lunch time came and Yuu had all of his stuff packed into his bag and ready to meet Tagiru at the front of the classroom. The gogglehead tucked his chair under the table and turned around to see two blonde-heads heading his way. "I can't believe I have to sit here for the rest of the year now." Tagiru moaned. "It can't be as bad as where I'm sitting." The blonde boy said. The two boys and the girl made their way out of the classroom and sat on a bench outside with Tagiru on the left, Yuu in the middle, and Airu taking the right. "Just in case you've forgotten, I'm going to make you my minion." Yuu gave off a somewhat playful frown and decided to ask a question he wanted to ask the second she appeared in that class. "So why are you here?" he asked. "Well..." The blonde girl crossed her legs and entwined her hands. "My father got a new job in this area so we moved here." she answered. Yuu nodded his head. He wanted to ask where she lives but he didn't want to come across as being creepy so he kept silent. "So where do you live?" Tagiru asked, straightforward as usual. "Airu giggled a bit, not showing a hint of shyness. "Just in an apartment near Hachikō Square."

"What!?" Yuu shouted.

"Hey isn't that close to where you live?" Tagiru said while repeatedly nudging his best friend with his elbow.

"In that case, we can walk to school and back together every single day." Airu teased while poking Yuu's face with her finger. Yuu pretty much frozed in his spot with his mouth left opened from the shock. With his hip being nudged by an elbow at one side, and his face being poked at on the other, the blonde boy was truly being tortured. Throughout most of Yuu's school life, he only had to deal with one obnoxious person but now he had to deal with two of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: It's Friday

Yuu chucked his bag to the side of his spacious studio apartment. It was a draining day, mainly because of the new girl in school. He let himself rest in his sofa for a while to recuperate some of the energy. "What's the matter Yuu? Are you sick?" Said Damemon, whilst in the Xros Loader.

"Reload!"

Damemon materialized into the real world, facing his partner. "I'm fine. Did you see what I went through today?"

"Yes, I saw everything. It's good that you have a new friend."

Yuu didn't appear to be in full agreement with his Digimon. "I don't know... she's one of those people who can get close to you and then leave you when you're no longer fun or useful to them."

Yuu's Digimon agreed with him to an extent but the Digimon was feeling more optimistic. "Maybe it's different this time. She said she wants to see your place so this could be a good chance to show off your culinary skills and then you two would be friends."

The blonde kid shooked his head. He didn't like the idea of Airu seeing his huge apartment. With the exception of Tagiru and Taiki, he never invited anyone to his apartment in fear of causing envy, and possibly attracting gossip and bullying in school. At 13 years old, he was self-reliant and living in a 15 storey apartment. He wasn't a typical kid and he was grateful to have met such purehearted friends like Tagiru, Taiki, and Damemon.

"I'm going to make something to eat now." The blonde got up and opened his fridge. He brought out all the food that was near its expiry date and then proceeded to improvise with them. Within the hour, he made two plates of stir fried noodles with a variety of vegetables in them. This was the time of day Damemon looked forward to the most and as soon as his plate hit the table, he gulped down the food as fast as he could. Yuu was the complete opposite and always preferred to saviour his food.

The rest of the evening was uneventful as Yuu spent the most of it, doing his homework assignments and Damemon reading a few textbooks so he could help his human partner with his work if the blonde needs it.

The next morning came and it was a friday so Yuu was feeling a bit lethargic as he closed the front door to begin his journey to the school. His pace was almost as slow as an elderly. He was sort of dreading to bump into that crazy girl, then suddenly his phone rang and he jumped.

"H-hello?"

"Yuu! Meet me at the rooftops." a masculine voice quickly said before the call ended. That voice almost sounded like Taiki's and the rooftops were one of the few places they would always meet in, but Yuu wondered why Taiki sounded so urgent. Could there be something wrong in the Digital World? Or is there an evil Digimon lurking around the school again? Yuu had to get there quickly to help Taiki out. Yuu's slow pace quickly grew into an athletic one, and he reached the school in no time.

Taiki sat on a vent, gazing at the little girls playing soccer below. He had been pondering whether he should invite Kouji, a classmate, to the Xros Heart basketall team. For months, the team consisting of Tagiru, Yuu, and himself was enough to beat most of their opposition even when outnumbered but Taiki wanted to take the team to the next level. Not long after, Yuu slammed the only door open and interrupted Taiki's thought train. The blonde kid was huffing and puffing. "I got here as fast as I can, what is it?" Yuu quickly said, looking flustered. Taiki distanced himself slightly from the blonde kid. "You should calm down first."

"But on the phone, you sounded like there was an evil Digimon here."

Taiki chuckled a bit. "No I wanted to see you here so I could give you this." The Xros Heart leader brought out what appeared to be a ticket.

"What is it?" Yuu asked, more calmer than a few moments ago.

"It's a ticket to the patisserie convention tomorrow . There will be a bake off there and Akari's in it but she needs a partner, and I can't cook to save my life so I thought that maybe you want to do it."

Yuu thought for a bit. He initially thought to reject it but after having completed some homework assignments in the night before, he decided to give himself a break. He nodded to the older gogglehead.

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Great! Here you go." The mature gogglehead handed over the ticket.

"Aren't you going to be there to see it?"

"Yeah, I'll get one on the door."

"Okay, sounds good."

The two hunters nodded and smiled at each other in silence for a short moment until Taiki decided to break the silence.

"Well I'll better get going."

"Yep, me too."

The two boys left the rooftop and made their way to their classrooms.

As Yuu entered through the door to his designated classroom, he saw a frowning Airu sitting in her table, staring coldly at him. Slightly intimidated, he walked towards where Tagiru was sitting.

"Look, I got here before you!" Tagiru teased. "I actually got here pretty early to see Taiki."

"Oh really?" Tagiru replied. "Yeah" Yuu brought out his red ticket and explained what had transpired earlier in the morning. He then proceeded to ask the younger gogglehead whether he would like to come, and he accepted. "Man, just thinking of all these cakes and deserts makes me wish time could skip to tomorrow." Said Tagiru while drooling all over his math book.

Disgusted with the sight, Yuu turned to face his desk and saw that crazy girl still staring at him with her cold, red eyes. He swallowed his spit, and proceeded to walk to his desk. When he got to his place, he put down his things, sat down, and then turned to the blonde girl. "Good morning." He greeted with a bright smile.

"Hmph!" The girl turned away with her eyes closed. "I wanted to walk with you but I saw you running off. Are you avoiding me?" She sternly asked.

"N-no, I got called to meet with... Taiki." The blonde boy replied, not wanting to upset her. "Hmph! I could have met him with you." The girl said, sounding a bit upset. "Well... we could meet him again... after class." Yuu felt a bit guilty for causing her to feel sad. "Hey, I'm going to the patisserie convention tomorrow, do you wanna come?"

Airu's face instantly turned to a smile. "Okay!" She replied, not hiding her happiness. The transition was so instant, Yuu wondered whether he was being manipulated.

The rest of the school day went by slowly. When the final bell rang, a half asleep Yuu packed his stuff straight away and headed to Taigru who was still packing his books. Airu followed behind him. "Hey, we'll meet up in the square tomorrow before 10. See ya" Said the blonde kid while giving the gogglehead and the blonde girl a single nod and continuing to walk out the door. Tagiru and even Airu knew the blonde boy was tired and wanted to go home quickly so they decided not to follow him.

Once at home, he cooked some instant ramen to save time and then took a shower straight after. He spent the rest of the evening finishing off homework, watching a bit of TV, and reading some baking tips on the internet.

"You should get some rest, Yuu. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day." Damemon said. Yuu nodded at his Digimon. "You're right." Yuu brushed his teeth and then went to bed, cuddling with his Digimon.


	3. Chapter 3

_ rampant-gumdramon Nope, I was thinking of Koji Wada when I was thinking of names. :) Thanks for the reviews._

_A/N: I prefer to call The Old Clock Shop Man, The Watchmaker._

Chapter 3: The Bake Off

Yuu, Taiki, Tagiru, and Airu sat together in the train. Yuu, and Taiki were sat together on one end, while Tagiru, and Airu filled the space at the opposite end, facing the other two. They only had to pass a few more stops before they reached the center of Tokyo. Throughout the journey, the 3 boys exchanged small talks, anecdotes, and jokes while Airu found it difficult to join in mainly because they were talking about Akari and Zenjirou who the blonde girl knew very little about, and had no interest in them.

"What do you think?" The blonde boy asked in an attempt to get her into the conversation.

"Huh? Sorry, I drifted off. What were you talking about?"

"The Watchmaker. Do you think we should keep an eye on him?"

"Hmm...well..." Airu had to think on an answer. Throughout the Digimon Hunt last year, she never thought about the Watchmaker or anyone. She just wanted to collect cute Digimon. When she was given a Xros Loader to catch that cute-looking creature called Opossummon, she never questioned who that old man was, or why he gave that device to her. She simply ran off to hunt that creature.

"I don't see why not."

"He said defeating Quartzmon would be the end of the hunt but we're still seeing some Digimon around. That counts as a lie to me." Yuu said.

"Maybe he meant it's the end of hunting powerful Digimon. So far in the last 4 months, we've only seen weak Digimon, just looking for attention. Like yesterday, I found a dozen Botamons messing around in my kitchen and Shoutmon was able to defeat them all in one blow." The older googlehead said, as he felt like providing a more positive outlook.

The blonde boy crossed his eyes as he felt Taiki 's response was just for the sake of being reasonable. Since being manipulated and lied to by DarkKnightmon, Yuu found it difficult to trust mysterious people like the Watchmaker. For that reason, he had been super cautious with people who lie and manipulate others most of the time. "We should definitely keep an eye on him, I mean, if he's really Bagramon, this whole hunting thing could be part of his elaborate plan." He said, with a hint of irritation.

Sensing some of the insecurities of the blonde boy, Taiki placed his hand onto the younger boy's shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. We should spy on him just to be safe." He softly said.

"But how are we going to find him?" Tagiru asked immediately as he too wanted to stalk the Watchmaker.

Airu smiled as she felt for the first time in the morning, that she had something to contribute.

"You can leave that to me. Just give me a list of all the places you guys saw him, and I'll set up the traps." She said with great enthusiasm.

Shortly afterwards, the train reached the group's destination. The hunters walked out into the platform and swiftly made their way to the exhibition centre near the station. It was there they met up with Akari. "Do you remember Airu?" The mature gogglehead asked. "Yeah, you helped us fight Quartzmon. Thanks." The red-head extended her hand. "I'm Akari, nice to meet you." Airu pulled a half-smile and returned the introduction. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Airu had Akari's face engraved into her memory since that battle solely because she saw Cutemon willingly chose to reside in the red-head's Xros Loader.

The whole group joined a fairly long queue to get to the reception. Yuu and Akari could have gone in straight away since they already have their ticket but they decided to stick with the rest of the group. They only had 3 hours to go before the bake off.

Once everyone got their ticket, they swiftly made their way into the building. The leader of the Xros Heart team picked up a map to see what was in store for them."Okay guys where do we go fir-" Tagiru's howling interrupted Taiki, as he ran off to some cute-looking cakes. Taiki shooked his head and stored his map into his pocket as he knew he won't be using it.

The group followed wherever the younger gogglehead bolted to during most of the day. There was a large variety of cakes, pastries, and cuisines from all around the world on display. Most of them could be eaten for free while some of the more artistic ones required a more expensive ticket which the Hunters did not have.

"Hmm these little cookies are great!" Airu remarked, while munching.

"Actually this is cake. It may be small and rounded like a cookie but it has a spongy texture ." Yuu said, while pinching the bite-size cake to demonstrate its sponginess.

"Wow! You seem to know about cakes. You're going to do well in the contest."

Yuu scratched the back of his head. "Heh... another difference is a cake normally hardens when they're stale whereas most cookies go soft."

Right after he finished his sentence, Yuu felt someone tapping his shoulder. "We should start getting to the stage now." Akari softly said.

The blonde boy nodded and started walking towards the stage with Akari.

"Good luck" The blonde girl shouted.

The stage contained a few kitchen appliances for 3 pairs of participants. Akari and Yuu were one of the pairs. The others were Kakeru and Hina, and Takumi and Honoka. The 3 pairs of contestants were directed by the organisers to stand in the correct positions and pose. They were all made to look like couples by standing closely with their partners, holding each other with one arm while holding a utensil with the other.

Akari and Yuu were a bit hesitant to be that close to each other but they obliged anyway.

"How long do we have to keep this pose?" The blonde boy whispered while facing the audience and not losing his smile. "I heard we have to hold this position until the host shows up."

The contestants had to stay motionless in their kitchens for about 10 more minutes before clouds of smoke filled the room, setting the scene for the flamboyant host to 'appear out of nowhere'.

"Good afternoon, I go by the name of Hiroshi and welcome to the bake off!" The eccentric host said with great charisma. The host had slicked back hair, and dressed like a 19th century French admiral but equipped with a real samurai sword in its sheath. Hiroshi went on to explain the rules and what will happen. The contest was just a simple bake off where 3 pairs of contestants try to bake a cake in an hour with the ingredients they brought in.

After several minutes of introduction, the host was finally ready to start the bake off. He grasped the handle of his samurai sword with his right hand, and stayed motionless for several seconds to generate anticipation.

"ALLEZ CUISINE!" He shouted as his sword schwinged out of its sheath, pointing at the audience. Pretty much everyone in the room, including the contestants took a step back from that man.

That catchphrase was the signal to start the bake off. Akari brought out the necessary ingredients to make a basic sponge cake and then finally she brought out the one ingredient that she believed would make her cake stand out from the competition. Oranges.

Yuu was directed by the older girl to preheat the oven and grease the cake tin with butter while Akari began to prepare the mixture of flour, baking powder, and salt in her bowl. She stirred it vigorously before adding in the butter and sugar. As Yuu was about to finish greasing the tin, he was politely ordered by the redhead to slice the oranges in half. Once Akari's mixture had been mixed well enough, she added some eggs before she resumed her stirring. With the basic cake mixture done, and all the oranges now cut in half, she placed the bowl on the table and the two hunters began to squeeze the juice out of the half oranges into the mixture.

"Wow! They work great as a team." Taiki remarked. "Yeah..." Tagiru gave a half-hearted reply, partially because he knew Taiki was going to say something like that and partly because his rush of energy from all the sugar he consumed ran out. Airu had kept quiet throughout as she was having some mixed feelings about all this. She was happy to see Yuu appearing to do well, but at the same time, she kind of envied the redhead. To her, Akari appeared to have two very cute things. Cutemon and Yuu.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, all the oranges had been squeezed into the mixture. Milk was then added, and then the redhead gently stir in some more flour and baking powder. "Is there anything I should do now?" Yuu asked. "Nah, you've been a great help, thanks." Akari responded as she carefully balance out the amount of milk, flour and baking powder in the mixing bowl. After a short while, the mixture became gooey, ready to be poured into the greased up cake tin. She poured the mixture into the tin while the blonde opened the oven door. She then swiftly placed the tin into the hot oven, followed by Yuu closing the door tightly.

The two hunters high-fived and gave each other a hug. The host saw this and went over to the hunters' kitchen to interview them. "So are you two...engaged?"

Both Yuu and Akari blushed. "N-no I'm older than him."

Hiroshi laughed loudly at the response. "That's no excuse. My wife is older than me by 5 years."

The host turned to the blonde one. "Do you think she's cute?" he whispered to the mic.

"Erm..." Yuu backed off a bit. "heh...what's this got to do with the bake off?"

"You're dodging the question. That's a yes then." The host said while smiling. Hiroshi noticed that the other two pairs had placed their mixture into the ovens so he went off to interview them.

"Phew!" both the hunters felt some relief after those awkward moments. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I didn't expect this to be so..."

"Don't worry about it." The blonde boy smiled.

The host asked similar suggestive questions to the other contestants. That went on for about 10 minutes. After that, the host spent the rest of the baking time asking relevant questions, and then resorted to telling bad jokes when he had some extra minutes to fill in.

Akari and Yuu's cake were the first to be brought out of the oven. The lovely smell of oranges emanated from the spongey bread. The two hunters sliced them into rectangular pieces and placed them all onto a big plate. Once all of the slices situated in that plate, the blonde and the redhead lifted the huge plate on either side and carried it over to the three judges. The two remaining pairs took a bit longer to prepare their more advanced cakes. In the end, all three pairs managed to finish preparing their cakes within the hour and a gong was hit to signal the end.

"Alright folks, we now have the cakes ready to be eaten by the judges." The host said as he got most of the attention of the audience and walked over to the judging table, while still holding that samurai sword in its sheath.

"Our first judge here is Dr Kawashima. He has interests in Brain-computer interface but also likes to analyze the taste of cakes in his spare time. Our next judge here is Dr Yamaguchi. He has a PHD in medicine and he claims that sugar is the best medicine of them all. And lastly, we have Dr Takada, an alleged half-robot looking for love."

The last judge nodded at the scripted joke while the host took a step closer to the three different cakes laying on the table below the judges.

"What a wonderful selection of cakes we have here. This cake here, made by Kakeru and Hina is a Black Forest gâteau. Originated from Germany, it contains alternating layers of chocolate cake and whipped cream and, some cherries inside and around the top. It's a miracle this wonder was made in an hour. Our next entry is a simple Banana cake by Takumi and Honoka. Made with mashed ripe bananas and some vanilla sauce. Likely as sweet as the couple who made it. Lastly, we have a cute orange cake made by Akari and Yuu. What makes the texture orange is the juice squeezed with the power of love."

The two hunters blushed from the comment.

"Right, I'm sure the judges don't want me to delay this any further, I shall do my best to move away from the delicious-looking cakes here." As the host turned to his right, the handle of his sword which was sticking out knocked the plate of orange cakes out of the table and landed on the floor.

Akari, Yuu and the rest of the hunters in the room had their mouths wide open in shock.

"Oops!"

To be continued...

_A/N: I don't exactly know how to make cakes so take the recipes here with a grain of salt. :)_


	4. Chapter 4

_ Gennai's Acoloyte – Thanks for the review. :) I kind of want to keep this restrained for as long as possible because most of the Yuu x Airu fics I've read on here go too fast in my opinion. I may have overdone the Yuu x Akari bit on hindsight._

_A/N: I'm considering changing the school year to the middle of the year since I found out the Japanese school year starts earlier than September._

Chapter 4: Family Day

Akari clasped together both of her hands over her mouth and nose as the host was discussing what to do next with the organisers. The blonde boy in contrast appeared to be calm and smiling. "No matter what happens, we did our best." Said the blonde kid. "Yeah, you're right." Akari released her clasp and revealed her small but forced smile.

"Okay, after some unfortunate events, a consolation prize will be given to Akari and Yuu." Akari was handed a sword by the host.

"What!? I can't take this."

"Please. It's all I can give you."

Akari turned her head towards Yuu to see if he wanted it. Yuu took a few moments to think about it. He actually wouldn't mind owning a sword but his father most likely wouldn't approve of it so he smiled and shooked his head.

"Erm... thanks." Akari reluctantly accepted the sword from the host. The contest went on and the pair who made the Black Forest gateau won it in the end. Akari and Yuu's entry was placed last but the two Hunters didn't mind it much as they had fun.

Later in the evening, the five hunters made their way out of the exhibition centre. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you carry that sword over to your place?" Taiki asked.

"Taiki, it takes about 30 minutes to get to my area by train and another 15 to walk to my place. It would be very late by the time you get back to your place from mine."

"But that sword looks heavy."

"I can manage, thanks."

When the five Hunters arrived at the train station, the redhead had to split with them to get to the other platform at the far side of the station. Yuu, Tagiru, and Airu waited for the two older hunters to finish their talking. The two older hunters talked a bit and hugged for a few minutes as they knew it was largely up to fate to decide when they would meet again. Throughout the past year, the only time Taiki and Akari met up was when they didn't have much homework, and when they had enough money saved up for the travel costs.

When the two older hunters finally released their clutches and said their goodbyes, the group of four hunters began to make their way to their homes. The journey was mostly silent and felt long. Taiki was occupied by his thoughts of his childhood with Akari, while Tagiru was a bit limp from the rush of sugar energy gone. Airu was ruminating a bit over what she saw today, and Yuu was mostly thinking about the next day.

Once they arrived at Odaiba, Taiki was the first of the group to split, then Tagiru, and then Airu. When Yuu arrived back at his apartment, he quickly cleaned himself up, set his alarm clock and went to bed straight away. At 5 am, his clock rang as planned and the blonde boy got up as if he was in army training. The alarm managed to lift one of Damemon's eyes but he quickly fell back to his sleep.

Today was sunday, the only day his parents pay him a visit. The blonde boy put on a pair of rubber gloves and did the dishes. There were only about 3 plates and a few knives and fork to wash. Then, he moved on to cleaning up the tables and other flat surfaces with a cloth and bleach. When Damemon finally woke up, the blonde boy willingly brought out the noisy vacuum cleaner to clean up the bits and pieces on the floor. After a few hours, his apartment was spotless and smelled nice. The only thing left to clean was himself. He approached to the bathroom smirking at the mirror, knowing once again he proved he can live alone without his parents' supervision. He duly brushed his teeth, washed his face, and tidied his long hair a bit.

_Ding Dong. _The doorbell rang. As usual, Damemon sat on the bed motionless like a toy. Yuu opened the door and was greeted by his father. A respected doctor, who travelled via private jet from Malaysia. One of the most popular destinations for medical tourism.

"Father." Yuu nodded. The elderly man smiled at his son and nodded once. "How have you been?"

"Good, everything's been great. Where's mother?"

"Ta da!" A playful woman, with dyed green hair popped out over the elderly man's shoulder. This woman was a systems manager working for a large technology company in South Korea. She too travelled via private jet to Japan in mere hours.

Yuu knew beforehand that Nene wouldn't be here as she was still in the middle of her music tour. He happily greeted to her mother back and let his parents in.

Yuu's father looked around the room, quietly appreciating the tidiness of the place while his bubbly mother kept stroking the Pokémon toys on his bed. "What's this one called again?" Yuu's green-haired mother asked while stroking and poking at Damemon. The Digimon tried his very best to contain his laughter from the contact. "That's just an ordinary toy I got from a fair." Yuu blurted out as he quickly pulled his mother's arm away from the Digimon. "Ow! What's gotten into you, you're going to break my arm!" She cried. "Sorry, erm... I just washed it and I don't anyone... touching it. Heh." For a short moment, the blonde boy's parents gave a crossed look.

"So how's school?" The blonde boy's father asked. "Yeah great. Been keeping on top of my homework." The father nodded at the answer. "Remember! Your school work is important at this stage of your life. If there's someone you're attached to, wait until you're much older and have a stable income."

"Haven't you forgotten how we met? And we turned out okay in the end didn't we?" The mother teased before Yuu was going to respond to his father's advice. That teasing broke down his father's serious face as he blushed at the passing thoughts of his school days. He quickly shook off the silly flashbacks and resumed his seriousness. "Still, it would be better to wait at least 10... maybe 20 years before pursuing romance." Yuu nodded before his mother started stroking his father and poking in spots that made him embarrassed but laugh at the same time.

After the weekly inspection, the rest of the day went by peacefully without any incident. The family went out to a local sushi bar to eat. When the evening came, the parents said their goodbyes and headed back to their countries. Yuu walked through the well-lit streets of Odaiba to get back to his apartment, with thoughts of what it would be like to have a normal family where his mother, father, and Nene would sit around a table to eat. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't notice a small, white Digimon following him in the air.

Once he got back, he washed himself up, packed his books into his bag for the next day, and went to sleep with his Damemon. The same Digimon who was stalking the boy earlier flew out of the shadows, and smiled at the boy. He blew dozens of twinkling dust particles at the boy's head. Half-asleep, the boy scratched his head to relieve the itch and then fell back to his slumber. Pleased with what he had done, the little Digimon flew out of the opened window, heading towards the next Hunter.


	5. Chapter 5

_ Gennai_Acolyte: Thanks again for the advice. :) It's not much but I've added a bit more to the last chapter. I'm mostly making it all up as I go along so I may go back and change a few things in the future. More reviews are welcome. :)_

_My original plan was to have about 3-4 chapters out before writing a christmas themed chapter to coincide with the occasion but I've decided now to not rush with this. _

_I also want to confess that I've lost my motivation to carry on which I think is normal but I really want to see through this to the end because I don't want my account to be full of half-finished stuff. _

Chapter 5: Xros Heart Basketball Team Training

A bell rang throughout the school signalling the start of lunchtime. It was Tagiru's turn to serve the school meals to the class so he went out to get the trays of the pre-made lunches. Yuu had brought with him a bento box so he didn't need to wait for his friend to serve him the food.

While eating his fish and rice, his left shoulder was being tapped by someone. "What is it?" He asked, knowing it was Airu's finger. "Say... what are you doing after school?"

The blonde boy closed his eyes while waiting for himself to finish chewing his food before swallowing it. "I'll be in basketball training with Taiki and Tagiru. You can come watch if you want."

"Hmm..." Airu thought for a moment as Yuu placed another mix of fish and rice into his mouth. "... I could but I'm thinking of checking out the Robot Club."

Yuu waited again for himself to swallow his food before responding. "You should go there. It would be good for your future." He responded in a serious tone. The blonde girl frowned as she felt the blonde boy was trying push her away.

"Don't you have something to eat?" The boy asked as he sensed he was being a bit distant and wanted to make up for it.

"Yeah but I'm kinda on a diet right now."

"You don't need to be on a diet. You look fine."

"Oh really!?" The girl bursted out in joy with twinkles around her head. "Thanks!"

The blonde boy rested his face into his hand and sighed as he didn't mean to make her happy that much.

When the school day ended, Tagiru and Yuu walked out of the classroom to make their way to the city centre where a free basketball court is normally available there. Just after the two friends left the school building, a hand was being placed over the adjacent shoulders of Tagiru and Yuu. Both of the boys squealed at the sudden contact. When the two turned around, they saw Airu holding them with both of her hands. "Aren't you supposed to be making your way to the robot club?" The blonde boy asked. "Erm... could you take me there? I still don't know my way round here." The boy sighed and headed back to the school entrance. "I'll see you later in the court." He said to the young gogglehead. Tagiru nodded and continued walking out of the entrance while the other two made their way to the robot club. The two of them were mostly silent until Airu decided to break it. "Do you think I'll fit in?" The blonde boy kept his facial expression still and was silent while the girl regretted asking such a pointless question in an attempt to make small talk. "Yeah." the boy finally answered. "I think you'll have a lot in common with those guys there. They like building stuff like you do while I have no passion for technology...well... I don't have the inclination to go deep into it."

"Sounds good." She said brightly, not knowing how to follow it up. They eventually reached the right room and they departed ways soon after.

During the basketball training, Taiki, Tagiru, Yuu and a new guy called Ryu was practising their passing and set pieces. The new guy started off enthusiastically but was quickly running out of energy as the training progressed. He eventually couldn't catch a single ball as he was feeling dazed from the intensity of the playing. "Now...I know why Xros Heart is the best... this is so hard." Said Ryu, huffing in between his lines.

"Don't worry." Said Taiki. "It may seem hard at first, but with constant training, you'll be able to fit in with us."

Ryu thought about it for a bit as he was still regaining his breath. "Sorry, this isn't for me." The skinny classmate of Taiki bowed to the group and walked away from the court. "I'll see you in class tomorrow!"

Taiki said his goodbye back and looked at his teammate. "Do we really need a new guy?" Tagiru asked.

"If you want an honest answer..." Taiki started stroking the back of his head as his face was blushing. "... I want to see if I can lead a 5 player team. I hope it's not selfish, heh."

"Not at all. If we're not continually challenging ourselves and improving, what's the point of having a human brain and a body?"

They both nodded in agreement. "Exactly! That's why you're better than Tagiru." Mami, a regular spectator of the Xros Heart basketball team chimed in. "Hey I'm always challenging myself!" The younger gogglehead rebutted. The two friends insulted and argued with each other as per usual until

all three of the Xros Loaders present in that scene started playing a short jingle. "That must be Airu's trap!" Taiki exclaimed." Let's go!" The three Hunters swiftly left the court with a puzzled Mami and her two companions, Haruka and Midori being left behind.

Taiki, Yuu, and Tagiru followed their Xros Loader to the destination marked on the holographic compass function. Once they got there, they found the Watchmaker and Clockmon struggling to get out of the fishing net and Airu standing beside him, looking pleased.

"The plan worked. Good job." Taiki complimented.

The trap happened to be one of the many placed around Odaiba which took the blonde girl the whole of the previous day to set up.

"Let me out. Is this a way to treat an elderly man?"

"We just want to talk to you that's all." Taiki unwrapped the fishing net and then went on to interrogate the elderly man with some questions.

"Firstly, are you Bagramon?"

"No! I already told you I'm not Bagramon." The elderly Watchmaker responded, showing annoyance.

"Then who are you?"

"Like I said, I'm just a watchmaker."

"How did you get a Xros Loader? Do you make them?"

"Enough questions! I'm tired and need sleep, I'm going home."

"Wait!... just answer this one!"

"Hm?"

"Why do we still have Digimon? (Not that I would mind.) Didn't we banish evil? Why is the hunt still on?"

"You're asking so many questions here." The old Watchmaker sighed and then delivered his explanation as quickly as he could in a single breath. "The-truth-is-I-started-the-hunt-to-train-some-of-you-up-for-your-battle-against-Quartzmon-however-when-I-saw-Tagiru-moping-in-his-room-I-thought-it-would-be-nice-to-bring-the-Digimon-back-to-your-world-again!"

"Hmm wait! You've been spying on me?" A puzzled Tagiru asked. The Watchmaker decided to respond in a calmer manner.

"All good things have their drawbacks. Since I opened the gate to your world to allow your partners to meet you again, many cheeky little Digimon have come through as well. They may not be powerful but they can be annoying."

"We'll just hunt them all! Right Gumdramon?"

"Yeah!"

"I must warn all of you. I can sense one Digimon nearby who has the ability to cause lots of anxiety and confusion." The Watchmaker said without letting off his quick pace.

"And where can we find this Digimon?" The younger gogglehead asked before the older one was about to.

The old man shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I can only sense it." The Watchmaker started making his way to a dark alleyway. "I'm sure you'll have no problems dealing with it."

Tagiru wanted to follow that man but Taiki grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "I think he's okay." He said. Knowing the older gogglehead would stop him if he persisted, he decided to let it go and followed the rest of the gang to a Ramen shop to eat.


End file.
